THE OCCUPATIONS OF SELF-MANAGED ATTENDANT SERVICES: A REFLEXIVE ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF 'INVISIBLE WORK'

Background: Participants in Ontario, Canada’s Self-Managed Attendant Services (SMAS) program receive funding directly from the government to ‘self-manage’ support services. Responsibilities include recruiting, hiring,... [ view full abstract ]

Background: Participants in Ontario, Canada’s Self-Managed Attendant Services (SMAS) program receive funding directly from the government to ‘self-manage’ support services. Responsibilities include recruiting, hiring, training and managing attendants, and maintaining accountability. Self-managed models frequently receive praise for enabling physically disabled adults to exercise choice and control over the supports they require to live independently in the community (Stainton & Boyce, 2004). Few studies however have examined the ‘work’ that self-managers undertake (Carmichael & Brown, 2002).

Method: This research adopts a reflexive ethnographic methodological approach (Foley, 2002; Lather, 2001), informed by critical feminist theories of work (Kittay, 1999) and a critical disability studies theoretical framework. The primary research question asks, ‘what is the work of self-managing attendant services?’ Eleven self-managers, five attendants and three program administrators participated in 90-minute semi-structured interviews. The interviews are designed to identify the ‘work’ involved in the occupation of self-managing attendants. Policy documents, program literature, accountability forms and personal records are being collected and analyzed alongside interview transcripts and reflexive researcher journals.

Results: Data analysis is underway and expected to be completed in Spring 2016. Findings that explicate the ‘work’ of SMAS and the implications for everyday occupations of program participants will be presented.

Conclusion: Preliminary findings suggest various forms of cognitive and emotional labour as significant dimensions of ‘invisible work’.

Application to Practice: The findings contribute to understandings of the everyday occupations, including the ‘invisible work’, of self-managed/direct-funded health care models, with implications for health professional practice with SMAS users, and for policy development.